Elizabeth "Lily" Collazo said this morning she will plead guilty to the first-degree murder of Mark Werkheiser, the father of her four children.

Appearing in a red prison jumpsuit and glasses in an empty courtroom, Collazo told Northampton County
Judge Edward Smith she would enter the plea in order to avoid the death penalty. Instead, she would serve a sentence of life without the possibility of parole and forgo all of her rights to appeal. The guilty plea hearing is scheduled 9 a.m. Monday.

While
the criminal aspect of the deal appears to be ironed out, complications
could arise due to demands Collazo is making about her children. As
part of her deal, she is requesting she be allowed to have contact with the children before she is sent to state prison if they want to see her, said defense attorney James Connell. She also wants to mail her children
twice a month without interference from their aunt Rachelle Altemose,
who is now their legal guardian.

"I just ask your honor to allow it, if it's what they want," she said before breaking into incomprehensible sobs.

Later in the hearing, Collazo said her two young sons have had to sneak around Altemose in
order to have any contact with her. Her teenage daughters have wanted
nothing to do with her since the murder, she acknowledged, but she hoped
things would change with time.

"They will never heal if they are kept from me," Collazo said of her sons. "The older two will come around."

First Assistant District Attorney Terry Houck dismissed her claims, saying Altemose has been nothing but supportive of her nieces' and nephews' needs. He admitted he had not been in contact with the family to discuss the visitation and contact matters, but he suspected the children simply wanted nothing to do with her.

"She is delusional because she thinks this is some act of the guardian keeping these children from her," he said.

'Cold and calculated'

Smith expressed misgivings about allowing any visitation or contact rights into the guilty plea's terms. Custody matters had no place in the negotiations over a "cold and calculated" murder of Werkheiser, he said. He did not dismiss the matter out of hand though, saying it was natural for even a murderer to want contact with his or her children.

"Whatever evilness allowed you to gun down Mr. Werkheiser doesn't necessarily mean you lack a maternal instinct or love of your children," he said.

Instead, Smith questioned how wise it would be to make her children, who ranged in age from 16 to 10 as of June, decide what involvement they had with her. Even if the family or children agreed to it, that wouldn't necessarily mean it was in their best interest to allow it.

"That's putting a lot of pressure on very young children," Smith said.

Police quickly identified Collazo as a suspect, and her friend Amanda Richline turned over bags of evidence Collazo allegedly gave her, including Werkheiser's wallet and a rare coin. Richline later agreed to call Collazo with police listening on a wire tap. In the resulting conversation, Collazo outlined how the murder occurred and said she planned to commit suicide after sending the boys to live with her father.

"I made a choice, it was the wrong choice, but I made a choice," Collazo said on a recording of the conversation.

Collazo was due in court today
for rulings on several procedural items, such as a change of venue and a
request for a new judge.

Collazo is still tentatively scheduled for trial Jan. 7, and Smith said he will only call it off if Collazo follows through with the plea. Houck said he is prepared to move forward with the trial and would not be stunned if Collazo suddenly has a change of heart over the weekend regarding her guilty plea.

"We'll believe it when we see it," he said.

Connell declined to comment after the hearing. Houck said the Altemose family would decline to comment.